November 2003

Apple-Picking Time in PC Land

Continued from page 1

By Simson Garfinkel

For many among the computer-using elite, the Macintosh has become the Dream Machine. That's because the Mac is a Unix system that can read Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. For most people, the ability to work with these documents is essential; although the free alternatives like Open Office perform well, they are not good enough for high-priced managers and consultants. But tech fetish appeal won't be enough to save Apple. As the company made clear in a recent ad campaign, what it needs is for people to "switch"-or at least to buy Macs to coexist with their PCs. And here's the second big thing that Apple is doing right.

Back in the old days, Apple argued that to produce a truly usable computer, it had to build a machine that wasn't compatible with, and hence encumbered by the flaws of, the dominant PC design; Apple's products were as a result less flexible and more expensive than PCs. Apple's computers still cost too much, but the company is now much better able to justify that price through improved usability and functionality.

For the past five years, the company's hardware designs have been unmatched in the computer industry. And now the programs running on the Macintosh screen look beautiful as well: they are clean and simple, providing useful features without all of those frills that litter the Windows landscape. For example, Apple's Safari Web browser has a menu item that you can select that says "Block Pop-Up Windows." Want some privacy? The last item in the browser's "History" menu says "Clear History." On Windows, clearing Internet Explorer's history requires cycling through a confusing set of menus and options.

So with all this on its side, why isn't Apple making bigger gains in market share? In a word, arrogance. Despite its recent advances in compatibility, Apple still has a go-it-alone philosophy. The company must do better at encouraging application developers to sell versions of their programs for the Mac. It needs to sell a version of OS X that runs on standard PC hardware. Apple could compete with Windows-if it would only try.